October 15, 2012 AT 10:00 am

ROS on Toyota’s HSR

On the heels of the recent announcement that Rethink’s Baxter was built on ROS, we heard today from our friends at Toyota that their new robot is also running ROS!

Toyota’s Human Support Robot, or HSR, will provide assistance to older adults and people with disabilities. A one-armed mobile robot with a telescoping spine, the HSR is designed to operate in indoor environments around people. It can reach the floor, tabletops, and high counters, allowing it to do things like retrieve a dropped object or put something away in its rightful place. An exemplar of the next generation of robot manipulators, the arm is low-power and slow-moving, reducing the chance of accident or injury as it interacts with people.